Vancouver group calls on Harper, Obama to release TPP text

A Canadian internet freedom group is spearheading a global campaign to open up trade talks underway in Asia that critics charge could criminalize internet users and hurt the environment.

The Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a complex, wide-ranging trade deal, has been under negotiation since 2005, with lawmakers from 12 participating countries, including Canada and the U.S., trying to reach a compromise on contentious provisions found in the deal’s 29 chapters.

U.S. president Barack Obama arrives in Asia Wednesday for bilateral talks with Japan and Malaysia, both signatories to the deal, to try and push the talks into the home stretch before a planned TPP summit in Vietnam in May.

Although Canada’s trade minister Ed Fast will not attend the unofficial talks in Asia this week, Canada has conducted TPP negotiations with other countries in secret, leading to intense speculation about what’s in the deal and whether it is in the public interest.

Along with 36 advocacy groups including the Council for Canadians, Vancouver-based OpenMedia will launch their campaign Tuesday evening by setting up a projector to shine a giant spotlight on government buildings in Washington, DC, with the words “Stop the Secrecy.”

As the group gains more signatures in their petition to release the text of the TPP and open the trade deal up for public debate, the spotlights will grow in size until April 30, when Obama is set to return to Washington from Asia.

OpenMedia spokesman David Christopher said by telephone Tuesday leaders from all participating countries should open the negotiations up to public criticism.

“It’s just not right for an agreement of this magnitude to be conducted in full secrecy,” Christopher said from Vancouver. “It’s time for the full text to be released so we can have a democratic debate… because so far the public has been completely excluded from the whole process.”

“Canada should not be signing onto this deal until there has been a proper discussion here in Canada because this could have devastating consequences for our digital economy.”

Christopher said that as more people sign the petition — there are currently 2.4 million signatures on an affiliated website — the more political leaders will realize there is “a political price to pay” if leaders clinch a deal hatched in secrecy.

A TPP document leaked last August showed Canada was one of several countries pushing back against U.S.-sponsored rules to punish those who download movies or music illegally online. Another leaked chapter on the environment has prompted environmentalists to warn the TPP could relax regulations related to exports of liquefied natural gas, which they argue could spur hydrofracking, a process that has caused concern for environmentalists and others.

Under U.S. internet proposals found in the leaked chapter, anyone who is alleged to have downloaded illegally could have their internet shut down before the allegations are even proven in court. Currently in Canada, a rights holder can only notify an internet provider like Rogers about the alleged infringement, and Rogers can only warn the downloader someone has complained about them.

Although observers applauded Canada’s resistance to the U.S. provisions when the chapter leaked eight months ago, it is unclear whether Canada’s position, or that of the U.S., has changed in the months since.

Canada joined the TPP talks in 2012. Negotiations between the signatories — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.S. – were meant to conclude last year.

An international trade official said Canada was committed to advancing its interests at the TPP talks. Caitlin Workman, though, also added that a strong IP regime that protect IP rights will lead to innovation and a stronger economy.

“With respect to intellectual property generally, Canada is committed to ensuring that its intellectual property regime balances the interests of both rightholders and users,” Workman said.

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